CJ Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band headline the Taste of Pawtucket event Friday night from 6 to 8.

This year’s Pawtucket Arts Festival has something for everyone. This weekend and next, the city most closely associated with the American Industrial Revolution will host a smorgasbord of cultural events: concerts, dance performances, Dragon Boat races, gala parties, ethnic festivals and food-tasting events.

You can awaken your cultural awareness by going to the Taiwanese or Cape Verdean festivals, get a taste of toe-tapping Cajun music by listening to CJ Chenier, cheer on a team in a Dragon Boat race, take the kids to a family festival with face-painting, storytelling, crafts and more — or make the rounds of dozens of artists’ studios to see what creative juices are flowing in Pawtucket these days.

Events associated with the festival are scheduled in several locations around the city, including the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center and Slater Mill Historic Site (both downtown), School Street Pier on the Blackstone River, and the Pawtucket Armory, 172 Exchange St.

Here are some of this weekend’s highlights. A complete listing of events is on the festival’s Web site, www.pawtucketartsfestival.org.

Tomorrow evening, the weekend’s slate of events kicks off with a Taste of Pawtucket at the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center, 175 Main St., in the heart of downtown (see story this page).

From 5:30 to 7 p.m., the Gnomes will perform a concert of Celtic music across the street at the Slater Mill Historic Site, then at 7:30 p.m., the “King of Zydeco,” CJ Chenier will perform with his Red Hot Louisiana Band. There will be food and dancing to the music under a tent, with a dance instructor on hand to teach Cajun-style dance steps. The concert continues until 10:30 p.m.; tickets are $10, with children under 6 admitted free.

Meanwhile, in the parking lot behind the Visitor Center, the Pawtucket YMCA hosts a free Family Fun Night. In addition to family-friendly activities including a climbing wall, face painting and inflatable obstacle course, the Fun Night will host a showing of Shrek the Third at 8 p.m.

Tomorrow night, from 6 to 9, more than 80 artists’ studios will be open to the public for self-guided tours; maps and directions to the studios will be available at the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center. The artists will showcase their work in a wide variety of media including painting, sculpture, photography, fiber arts, ceramics and jewelry.

Free maps for the self-guided tour will be available at the Visitor Center as well as at the participating studios. (Maps may also be downloaded from www.pawtucketopen studios.com.)

The studio tours continue on Saturday and Sunday. Hours on Saturday are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

Saturday’s signature event is the popular Dragon Boat Races that are part of the Taiwan Day Festival. A wide variety of events takes place all day long — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. — along the Blackstone River, centered around the School Street Pier, just off Route 114 in Pawtucket.

Dragon boats are ornately carved vessels, complete with dragons’ heads and tails, whose origins are in Chinese mythology. The boats range from 30 to 100 feet, and each seats a team of 20 paddlers, seated two abreast. Teams of racers from all over Rhode Island and the country compete in the Pawtucket races.

Dragon boat races were added to the Pawtucket festival in 1999, but in China the sport of racing Dragon-shaped boats goes back thousands of years. According to legend, the sport began when 4th-century Chinese poet Ch’u Yuan drowned himself in the Mi Lo River after losing favor with the king of Chu. Afterward, the people of Chu began the custom of racing around the river in their fishing boats, splashing oars and beating drums to scare fish and water dragons away from Ch’u Yuan’s body.

Teams of racers compete for cash prizes and trophies, with races continuing throughout the day, 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., when prizes will be awarded.

Along with the Dragon Boat Races, Saturday’s slate of events at School Street Pier includes a performance of a Lion Dance (10 to 10:30 a.m.), a martial arts demonstration (11:30 a.m. to noon), Chinese folk dancing (2:30 to 3:30 p.m.), and a variety of other activities, including traditional arts and crafts. Hours for the free festival are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., the grounds of the Slater Mill Historic Site (67 Roosevelt Ave. in downtown Pawtucket) will be the site of the Slater Mill Fun Fest, a free event geared to families. At 12:30 p.m., the Pawtucket-based children’s theater group All Children’s Theatre will perform The Little Mermaid, following the adventures of the mermaid Serena as she journeys to the top of the sea and then finds her way home.

From 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., the local group Slippery Sneakers will perform its high-energy dance music, combining elements of zydeco, blues, soul, Cajun and rock ’n’ roll music. They will perform on a stage with a dance floor.

Storyteller Mark Binder will weave tales from 2 to 4 p.m. The founder of the American Story Theater has also published works in Cricket Magazine, and he is the author of Classic Stories for Boys and Girls.

Throughout the afternoon, there will be food vendors, art and craft exhibitors, and family activities including a rock climbing wall, an inflatable obstacle course for children, and face painting. The Pawtucket Public Library will host an art project, teaching children to make art using print blocks. Their designs will be incorporated into a pair of tables to be used in the library.

Sunday afternoon from noon to 6 p.m. there will be a Cape Verdean Block Party at 120 High St. In addition to traditional music and food, there will be entertainment for children and demonstrations of the acrobatic dance form called Capoeira. The event is free.

From noon to 1 p.m., the Preservation Society of Pawtucket will host a free walking tour of the city’s historic downtown, showcasing some of the recent conversions of old mills into loft living spaces. The tour begins at the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center at noon.

A pair of dance events at the Pawtucket Armory cap the weekend’s festivities. See story on this page for details on a performance of contemporary ballet by Cadence Collaborative and another by JUMP!, a children’s collaborative dance company.

kimbrie@projo.com